Warning and sound device



April 2, 1935. A. G. SMALL WARNING-AND SOUND DEVICE Goooae Filed May 8, 1953 wu TH M mM R V5 O m6. an DA .A E D N QM/ vAM J .Aw

Patented Apr. 2, 1935 WARNING SOUND DEVICE Y Alexander G. Small, Pasadena, Calif. Application May s, i933, serial No. 669,971 4 claims. (omis-Lin) My invention relates to warning and sound devices, and same is more particularly, but not necessarily, designed for use in connection with steam driven locomotives wherein steam when-genery ated in the boiler of the locomotive is incidentally or in some part relied upon to operate a whistle and thereby produce a more or less piercing or sharp sound of sufficient amplitude to be clearly audible at great distances.

It is recognized that steam underpressure, such as Would be required to operate a locomotive engine, is far more desirable for the purpose of a whistle than other fluids. This is probably due to the fact that it has heretofore been considered that inasmuch as the boiler of a locomotive furnishes a chamber of maximumcapacity for steam at high pressure it is entirelypractical to draw off therefrom and conductto the whistle as much steam as is desiredat any time to sound an audible signal over any reasonable interval of time. But it is equally recognized that as fast as steam is drawn from the boiler additional steam must be promptly generated to replace that which has been drawn oif so as to enable the engine, as quickly as possible, to repossess its ability to carry the loads imposed thereon. In consequence thereof, the cost of generating steam in the boiler so as to allow for an incidental use of steam as a motive force for the sounding of an audible warning device has been exceedingly high, saying nothing of the fact that very frequent drawing of steam from the boiler has, to a very large extent, seriously interfered with the efciency of the locomotive when use of its maximum power was desired.

It is an essential object of my invention to provide a warning and sounding device which will operate with a very high rate of efficiency and with a minimum use of steam.

It is a further object of this rinvention to provide in combination witha fluid-pressure chest of a fluid-operated whistle and a chime-type bell a system of nozzles or orifices for discharging porof the bell in a manner which is productive of sleeve yemployed;V and tions of fluid along paths with respect to the walls l fer'eat critical times with the prompt functioning of the engine.

Another object of the invention is to provide means Yfor readily converting' the' stock form of whistles into one having allof the functional characteristics of my present improvement while maintaining a structural relationship of the parts employed that`vvil1 insure operative co-action thereoi. and particularly the Vdischarge of the steam in operative proportion to the sizes of the respective chimesv of the bell of the whistle.

`In the accompanying drawing,

Figuref 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through a whistle enibodyingV the features 'of vmy invention;

Figure 2 is a transverse section taken on line 2 2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a detailed perspective `View of the form of nozzle plateemployed;

I Figure 4 is a perspective v1ew of a reducing Figure 5 is aschematic -view showin'gthe shape which the steam assumesasit discharges from the orifices of the nozzle plate.

It ris vto'be clearly understoodthat it i s not my intention to confine myself to any particular use to which the invention may be.put,'nor doi I restrict myself to theuse Vofste'am for the sounding of my whistle. Therefore, wherever the use of the term steam occurs herein, it is merely as an illustration of theuse of onefform Aof a iiuid that may be employed'. However, I am particularly" concerned with the construction of. a device which adapts itself to the Vuse of steam. This is because ofthe fact that such whistles as are herein'referred to are commonly used upon most forms of Vstearfn-oizierate'd locomotives now in use and because, as stated, it isa primary purpose ofthe invention to prevent such loss of steam as wouldinterfere withvthe proper func'- tioning of the engine, and at thev samel time materially reduce the cost of operating 'steam whistles. f f v In carrying the invention into practice', use is made of va chime type lof steam operated Whistle 5`,' which, except for those features that characterize my invention, Iis of y common construction. Said whistle includes a steam chest t provided ywitha diaphragm 'l having a valveseat Sand an and said vdisk has an integralthimble I 2 rin .which "is contained a coil spring `|3. `One endo'f the spring bears against a threaded capfhi in the a valve disk l I adapted toco-act with vtheV seat 8 y nipple or neck l5 of said steam chest, and it accordingly follows that the spring normally tends to urge the valve disk against said seat 8. Within the opening S is a pressure reducing sleeve I6, the same providing a ared reducing passage |611, by means of which steam from a supply pipe Il is free to enter the chest 6 when the stem I 0 is moved against the normal tendency of the aforementioned spring lS. This depressing of the stem may be effected by a lever I8 of the usual type and same is adapted to be manually controlled from the cab of a locomotive.

In the present instance, the chest is in the form of a horizontally disposed bowl of circular form in plan. At the center of this bowl is an integral internally threaded boss I9 into which the lower correspondingly threaded end of a vertical bell stem 2li is secured. This stem rises a suitable distance above the top of the bowl so as to accommodate the vcentral portion 2|` of a bell 22, the latter being of a conventional type, and as illustrated, the upper extremity 'of said bell stem 20 is threaded at 23 for the accommodation of a clamp nut 24, which functions to hold the aforestated parts of the structure operatively assembled.

It willsuffice at this point to say that the bell is`provided with chimes 25 arranged in an annular series. These chimes are of respectively graduated internal areas both circumferentially and vertically, so that each thereof will respond to the action of fiuid under pressure to produce a desired audible note. I make no claim to the form of bell except for those changes which I have made for the purpose of carrying out the objects of my invention.V

On reference to Figure 1 of the drawing, it will be notedthat the said bowl-like steam chest 6 is provided with an annular exteriorly threaded wall 26 with which is removably connected the internally threaded skirt 2'! of what may be aptly termed a nozzle plate 28. This plate virtually constitutes a cover for said steam chest and when the skirt is 'fully screwed home upon the external thread of the chest a perfect steam-tight seal is established between the peripheral points of contact of these two elements. It is in this respect that I have altered the form of construction of the chest from the type commonly used so as to insure a very material saving of steam in the operation of the whistle.

On reference to Figure 2; of the drawing, it will be appreciated that radial fins 29 mutually co-act with each other to mark the lines of separation between the respective chimes of the bell of the whistle, it having been previously stated that these chimes are of graduated sizes both vertically and circumferentially. The nozzle plate 23 is formed with as many arcuate sets or series of substantially vertical nozzles 30 as there are chimes 25 and it will be observed that the number of orifices of each set or series is proportioned with respect to theparticular combined area presented by each of said chimes so that proportionate amounts of steam will properly coact therewith.` In other words, the invention provides means for controlling the discharge of steam in proper proportion to the Vsize of the chime to be sounded and for limiting the discharge to the chime to be sounded. Each chime of the bell terminates in a sharp lower edge 3|, the same being disposed laterally of the arcuate series of orifices 3B with which it co-acts. In other words, and as herein illustrated, the horizontal edge 3l of each chime is offset outwardly from the vertical plane of said co-acting orifices. It is to be understood, however, that this relative order of the parts is merely by way of illustration and is but suggestive of one practical embodiment of the invention.

I have found that excellent results are obtained by utilizing orifices or nozzles 3i) of the type shown in the British patent to De Laval, No. '7,143 of 1889, as same are designed to function with respect to a definite steam pressure in the chest 6 and atmospheric pressure at the discharge ends of said orices, which said discharge ends are located beneath the lower edges of the bell of said Whistle. Since the amount of steam that passes through any of the orifices is approximately proportional to the initial pressure and the area of the orifices, considerable additional economy is attained by holding the pressure in the chest as low as possible and at the same time obtaining the required volume of sound. I find that this can be properly accomplished with the use of my reducing sleeve I6 or the equivalent thereof.

' The plate 28 is thick where the orices are located, so that the orifices take the form of relatively elongated nozzles for producing jets of high velocity. A relatively small amount of steam at low pressure in the chest 6 is converted by the `nozzles into effective jets of high velocity which cause an active sheet of fluid to be produced with the use of a very much smaller amount of steam than was possible heretofore. Because of the relatively small amount of steam which flows through the nozzles, the steam pressure in steam chest S builds up and remains relatively uniform. As long as the valve disk ll is removed from its seat 8, the steam discharges with high velocity from the nozzles in the direction of the co-acting sharp edges 3l of the overlying chime. The orifices 3i] of each series employed are so related to one another that arcuate steam sprays will be simultaneously discharged with great force into said chimes. An actual test of a device made in accordancev with my invention, as against the devices of the prior art, has shown that I am able to obtain sounds of approximately the same amplitude as steam-actuated whistles of well-known construction, with the use of about seventy-five per cent (75%) less steam than'was heretofore required to operate said devices of the prior art.

In orderrthat each chime maybe held in proper registration with its respective co-acting orifices 30, I provide the plate 28 with a dowel 35 which is received in an opening 36 formed on the under side of an adjacent radial Wall 29 of the bell, and it thus follows that these parts are held operatively interlocked when the clamp nut 24 is driven home on the bell pin 2B.

In Figure 5 of the drawing, I have illustrated schematically the manner in which a continuous arcuate sheet of steam is formed by the co-acting orifices of one of the series employed. Each orifice has its walls suiiiciently fiared to produce a conical jet of steam, and due to the relationship of the orifices to one another, it follows that the conical jets produced thereby merge into each other in the direction of the lower edge of the bell of the whistle so as to produce acircumferentially continuous sheet of steam of high velocity. No steam is thereby permitted to escape from any other portion of the nozzle plate, and in consequence thereof I am able to utilize approximately seventy-ve per cent (75%) less steam than was required heretofore, and at the same time produce Warning sounds of great magnitude.

I claim as my invention:

1. A fluid operated whistle comprising a uid chest, a bell co-operable therewith, and means having a plurality of arcuate series of closely related orifices for directing individual jets of fluid along arcuate paths With respect to the co-operable edge Walls of the bell.

2. As a new articlel of manufacture, a nozzle structure for use in connection With the fluid chest of a iiuid-controlled whistle of the chime type comprising a plate having arcuate sets of spaced apart, elongated orifices through which fluid from the chest is adapted to discharge, said sets of orifices being in concentric relation to the axial center of the plate and the number' of orifices comprising each set being such that different amounts of fluid will be discharge from the orifices of the respective sets, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, with the chest of a uidcontrolled whistle, of a plate having sealed connection with the discharge end of the chesta bell co-operable with the plate and provided with chimes of respectively diierent sizes, the plate having a plurality of series of orifices for directing separately grouped jets of high velocity along paths relative to the walls of the respective chimes to eiect a sounding of the Whistle, and means co-operable with the plate and with the bell to operatively correlate the respective chimes With a co-acting series of orices.

4. A fluid operated Whistle comprising a iiuid chest; a bell; and a plate embodied in the chest and provided with an annular seriesfof spaced l 

